


Meet Me at the Altar

by Browneyesparker



Series: Bughead Stories [6]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Family, Friendship, Gen, Riverdale, Romance, Wedding, bughead - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-08 16:39:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11085636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Browneyesparker/pseuds/Browneyesparker
Summary: Jughead and Betty's journey from getting engaged to their wedding day. The Bughead fic you guys never knew you wanted. Rated T. Bughead. Mentions of Archie & Ronnie. Artwork commissioned by springroove on tumblr.





	1. Chapter One You Want To Marry Me, We'll Marry

**Author's Note:**

> The Wedding AU that nobody knew they wanted. I don’t think we’ll be in for a long ride, just for the short time Hallmark is airing movies on their channel.

 

**.**

**Chapter 1 You Want To Marry Me, We’ll Marry**

It was a perfect day for a wedding. The air was crisp and it smelled like fall. The trees were just starting to turn scarlet and orange.

Jughead craned his head to look for Betty, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet while he waited for the arrival of his lovely bride-to-be. It was the second Friday of the month and that meant it was his turn to play the groom.

Archie pressed play on his iPod and “Canon in D” started to play. Betty appeared with a handful of wilting weeds, her hair golden underneath the autumn sunshine as she started to walk towards him in her Vineyard Vines sweater and L.L. Bean wellies.

Jughead’s heart skipped a beat when she smiled at him. He wanted to freeze time because he knew there would be a moment in time where she would be walking down an actual aisle and Archie would be the actual groom. He would be the best man, wishing for things he could not have.

Of course that was a while away and today, Archie was officiating the ceremony. Today, Betty was going to be his wife even if it was just all a game and they were actually too young to think about getting married for real.

The ceremony went by rather quickly because Archie didn’t know most of it. He pronounced them husband and wife and threw acorns at them as they ran up the yard. Then they moved on to the next stage of the game, the first dance.

Betty was unlike the other girls in their grade, so they didn’t dance to Justin Bieber or the Jonas Brothers. She had a love for older music, so she’d chosen a Carpenters song instead. They whirled and twirled while Archie danced with an imaginary bridesmaid while the lead singer warbled about waiting and adoring eyes.

It was the first time Jughead ever dared kissed her and even then, it wasn’t full on the lips. Just the corner of her mouth, enough where he could taste her bubblegum Lip Smackers but not enough that she would totally be repulsed by him.

He pulled away and Betty blushed but didn’t say anything.

“Betty Cooper, I love you,” he whispered, not loud enough for her to even hear. 

Betty stopped abruptly and for one agonizing second, Jughead thought she _had_ heard him. But she took his hand and pulled him towards her house.

“Come on Archie! I made cupcakes for an after school snack!” She announced.

Jughead didn’t think he would ever love her more.

 

**.**

**_Sixteen Years Later_ **

He proposed to her over coffee ice cream sundaes and _This Is Us_ reruns.

She was in the middle of talking about pitching a series of articles to _Marie Claire_ about fashion in television when he interrupted her.

“I think we should get married.”

He felt like he was ten-years-old all over again, except this time he wasn’t proposing with a cherry flavored ring pop and there wasn’t going to be a ceremony immediately to follow in Archie’s backyard. This time it was real, she would say yes or no and they’d be heading into _‘til death do we part_.

Betty stopped talking. “What?” she asked, her breath catching in her throat.

“I said I think we should get married,” Jughead repeated.

Betty glanced at the television where Jack and Rebecca were getting married. “Is this because we’re watching _This Is Us_? I know their marriage looks good but it’s _television_ , Juggie. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

Jughead shook his head. “No. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. I love you, it’s only natural we take the next step and not because society says so. I know we’ve only had terrible examples growing up and I know I’ve said that’s a good reason not to get married because we could only be bad at it like everyone else. But I know if we don’t try, I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life. Because all I’ve ever wanted to since I was a kid is marry you.”

Her eyes widened and she leaned over to press the pause button with their remote. “Really? You’ve wanted to marry me for that long?”

“We used to pretend we were getting married in Archie’s backyard when we were younger,” Jughead reminded her. “When it was my turn to play the groom, I thought about what it would be like to really get to be your husband one day. I knew I would never fit into your equation as anything more than a friend and I was okay with that. But now. . .”

“You never told me that,” Betty said.

“Because Archie had already asked you to marry him first,” Jughead explained. “But now we’re all grown up and you’re mine and even though I’m _terrified_ , I would still like it if we spent the rest of our lives together.”

Betty bit her bottom lip, she knew she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him too. That wasn’t even a question. She’d dreamed about him proposing for the better part of a decade but it had slipped away as he’d tried to talk them both out of it after witnessing the wreck of relationships around them.

Her own parents were still together, living the lyrics of a sad Carly Simon song.

But they weren’t their families, he had said as much before he had kissed her for the first time and they’d fallen into an intimacy they would never get out of.

If anyone could make it last, they could. They’d already gone through so much together and came out stronger for it.

Betty nodded. “I’ll marry you Jughead. I can’t think of anything more I would like to do more.”

“Hold on! I have something for you!” Jughead said, untangling himself from her arms and going to his bedroom.

Betty leaned over the couch armrest and watched him rummage through his underwear and sock drawer. After a few seconds, he found what he was looking for and came back, getting down on one knee when he did.

“Jughead?”

“I’m going to do this the right way,” Jughead said. “Well, sort of. If I did it the way everybody expected me to, I would have proposed like Archie proposed to Veronica.”

Betty shook her head. “It’s okay, this is more our speed. This is more you. Go on.”

“Okay, Betty Cooper, I have loved you since that first day I met you and you shared your chocolate chip cookies with me. My life has never been the same and even though I’m scared to death of what could happen, I know I want to try with you. I know I want to make it work with you. I’m tired of you leaving at the end of the night because we’re not technically living together. I want you to stay forever if you’d like. So, will you marry me? Will you be my wife, you don’t even have to take my last name,” Jughead said as he took her hand and slid a band on her left ring finger.

“I already said yes,” Betty whispered.

“I know but I wanted to do it the right way and you did tell me to go on.”

Betty studied the ring, it was an art deco piece in a white gold with a wheat pattern setting. She knew enough about jewelry to tell that there weren’t very many carats in the diamond, but it was still beautiful and it belonged to _her_.

“But you already had it—”

“I know. I know. . .” Jughead interrupted. “But I kind of hoped you weren’t listening to me, or you were hoping I would change my mind or whatever it is girls think about when it comes to guys.”

“Where’d you get it?” Betty asked.

“When we went to that estate sale in the Hamptons that one time. The old guy who owned the house practically gave it to me when he saw you. He asked if you were my girl and then he said he thought his wife would want you to have it. Something about your energy.”

“You did not take an engagement ring from a poor widower!”

“He wasn’t poor,” Jughead said. “He had an estate in _the Hamptons_. But no, I didn’t, I found it at an antique shop when I was writing that article about how to buy second hand books from thrift stores and used bookstores. I wandered into it by accident, as soon as I saw it, I knew you had to have it.”

Betty leaned over to kiss him and almost fell off the couch in the process. He caught her before she did and he helped her stand up. She smiled at him and then he framed her face with his hands and kissed her.

When Veronica had gotten engaged to Archie, she said when he had kissed her it had felt like her first last kiss.

Betty didn’t know what she was talking about.

Because your first last kiss with the person you were going to spend the rest of your life could only feel like a beginning.

**TBC. . .**

**.**


	2. Chapter 2 the In-laws

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all for the reviews and the kudos!

**.**

**Chapter 2 the In-Laws**

“I have so many ideas!” Alice exclaimed. “I never thought I’d see a day when one of my daughters got married! Polly’s living with _Reggie Mantle_ of all people! I don’t think they’ll actually ever tie the knot—”

“Mom, mom! We just want something small!” Betty told her as she adjusted her laptop screen. “Maybe in the backyard, with only our family and close friends.”

“Well, we’ll talk about that later,” Alice answered. “Have you talked about a prenup?”

“Mom! We’ve barely been engaged for twenty-four hours!” Betty said, rubbing her temples. “I haven’t even started to make appointments to try on wedding dresses. You’re the second person I’ve told that we’re getting married. The prenup is the last things on my mind and I’m not even sure we’re going to have one.”

Alice frowned. “What do you mean? Not going to have one? You two make a lot of money, you’re well-known writers. If this doesn’t end well, you could suffer because of it!”

“Well, it’s not going to end at all.”

“His dad and mom are divorced,” Alice reminded her. “What if one day he decides to just walk out on you like Gladys walked out on FP?”

“Mom, that isn’t fair! You know why she left him and you also know Jughead isn’t his father. And not that it matters, but FP and Gladys are actually on good terms again. Okay? So, we’re not getting a prenup. I don’t want you to even mention it again!”

Alice sighed. “Fine. So, what about your bridal party? Have you thought about options? It’s important you get it right, you want to still be speaking to the people in the pictures in 10 years.”

Betty cleared her throat. “Yeah. We’ve discussed it. We were thinking that Archie would be the best man and one of Jughead’s cousins will be a groomsman. Veronica will be my maid of honor. Jellybean will be a bridesmaid and the twins will be the flower girl and the ring bearer.”

“You’re going to have Veronica be the maid of honor over your own sister?” Alice’s frown deepened.

“I already discussed it with Polly,” Betty replied. “She’s going to be about ready to give birth at any second when we get married. She doesn’t want to be in the wedding party, mom.”

“Hold on a second, Betty. Polly’s 6 months along now. She’s not going to be due any second when you and Jughead get married! In fact, she’ll have plenty of time to get her body back to fit into whatever bridesmaid dress you choose!”

“Jughead and I want to get married as soon as possible.”

 

“Oh honey, that’s not going to work!” Alice laughed. “You need at least a year to plan the perfect wedding.” 

“Perfect wedding!?” Betty repeated. “Mom, it’s not like we’re going to enter our wedding to be televised on TLC!”

“We’ll talk about this when dad and I come to Boston next week,” Alice said, ending the argument in a way that would guarantee that she would get her way eventually. “Okay? I’m going to buy every bridal magazine as we speak! Love you!”

“Mom!”

But Alice had already ended the video chat. Betty sighed in exasperation and shut the lid of her laptop, she wandered into Jughead’s office where he was talking to Gladys and stood in the doorway watching him.

“She’s right here, mom! Of course!” Jughead held out his phone to her. “She wants to talk to you.”

Betty pointed to herself. “Me?” she mouthed.

“Yes you!” Jughead answered, putting the phone on speaker. “Come on. She’s waiting.”

“Okay.” Betty went to him and sat down in his lap, taking the phone. “Hey Mrs. Jones!”

“Oh please call me Gladys! Or better yet you can call me mom!” she answered. “I can’t tell you how happy I am that you two have finally decided to get married. I was going to be fine if you decided just to live together but—”

“Mom,” Jughead interjected.

“I’m sorry! I’m just excited!” Gladys said. “So, what’s the game plan? Do you have one yet?”

“All we know is we want to get married in Riverdale in three months and that it’ll be small,” Jughead answered.

“What does Alice think about all this?” Gladys asked.

“She doesn’t approve,” Betty answered. “But you know, it’s my wedding. Not her’s, so she’ll just have to deal with it.”

Gladys laughed. “Well, good luck with that! I know Alice and there is _no_ way that she’ll let you have what you want without a fight. Don’t let her win though! The wedding is for the whole entire family to a degree but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have what you two want.”

“Thank you! Also, we were wondering if Jellybean could be in the wedding,” Betty continued. “Of course, I’ll ask her formally with a necklace or something but I thought I’d run it by you first.”

“I can’t speak for her but think she’ll be thrilled to be involved!” Gladys said. “Have you called your father yet?”

“I wanted you to know first,” Jughead replied. “So, I was thinking maybe the three of you could come visit us in Boston so we can celebrate together.”

“You and JB can stay with me!” Betty suggested. “FP could stay here with Juggie.”

“You see what dad says and we’ll work something out,” Gladys promised. “Go and call your father. He loves Betty, I think he’ll be ecstatic. I’ll talk to you both later! Love you!”

“Love you too!” Jughead answered.

“Love you!” Betty added.

“Let’s call my dad now and then we have to tell Veronica and Archie,” Jughead said. “Veronica will probably kill us for not telling her first.”

Betty laughed and handed his phone back to him. “Call your dad.”

FP picked up the phone after the second ring. “Hello son, what’s going on?”

“We just called to tell you some news, Dad,” Jughead replied.

“Oh? And what’s that?” FP asked the smile in his voice was obvious.

“Well, we’re going to get married,” Jughead answered. “We got engaged last night.”

“That is _great_ news!” FP said. “You made a good choice, Jug! Betty, I can’t tell you how happy I am that you are going to be my daughter-in-law! Now, have you told your mom yet?”

“We told mom first,” Jughead told him. “I hope you don’t mind.”

“Mind? No, I don’t mind. She should have known first,” FP assured him. “So, what made you two finally decide to do it? I know you weren’t too keen on the idea before Jughead. And I know that it probably has something to do with me.”

“We’re not thinking about that anymore,” Jughead answered. “It’s all in the past. What matters is that we’re getting married now.”

“Well, you’ve made a good choice,” FP repeated. “But you know I’ve always approved of Betty.”

Betty grinned and leaned her head on Jughead’s. “Hey, Mr. Jones, we’re trying to get Mrs. Jones and JB to come to Boston soon. We want you to come too. This weekend, in fact!”

Jughead frowned. “But I thought your dad and mom were coming this weekend.”

 

“If that’s the case then maybe we should just wait to visit until later—” FP said cautiously.  

“My parents are going to stay in a hotel,” Betty interjected. “I really want for us to all get along, we’re going to be family. I know my mother has done some terrible stuff to you before and there’s no excuse for it and I’m not asking you to get past it. . .” 

“But you do need to try and get along with them,” Jughead added. “For our sakes.”’

“I’ll make sure I talk to my mom about it,” Betty promised. “Not that she’ll listen to me but I’ll try. I really want this to work out.”

FP sighed. “I know. I want it to work out too. If anybody deserves it, it’s the two of you. I’ll put my best effort in but only for yours and Jughead’s sakes, Betty. Because I don’t particularly care for your mother.”

“I know,” Betty answered. “But I’ll try and make it easier on you guys.”

**.**

In the end, everybody including Reggie and Polly wound up going to Boston for the weekend. The Cooper parents stayed in a hotel, like Betty had expected they would. But FP, Jay, and Reggie stayed with Jughead while Jayden, JB, Gladys and Polly all stayed at Betty’s slightly larger apartment with her.

Alice had gone out of her way to make an appointment at a higher end bridal salon, so early Saturday morning all the ladies went to look at wedding dresses while Jughead took the males to get breakfast.

Betty still didn’t have any idea about what style she was going for her, but Alice had lots of opinions as she led them through the boutique as she instructed Charlotte, the girl in charge of the appointment, on what dresses to pull.

“We don’t want to wear anything white,” Alice said. “Pinks and creams, maybe ivories and off-whites would be lovely.”

“We don’t want white dresses?” Betty asked, frowning.

“Honey, don’t try and pretend you’re going to be a virgin bride!” Alice answered, laughing a little bit.

Polly gasped and covered Jayden’s ears. “Mother, _please_! I don’t want to explain to my daughter what _that_ word means!”

Alice ignored Polly and Betty. “How about we try something with lace?”

“Alice, why don’t you ask Betty what _she_ wants?” Gladys suggested. “Maybe now that we’re here, she’ll see something she likes.”

“I was thinking since it’s going to be a simple, backyard wedding, maybe we can do something tea-length?”

“We have a lovely selection of short dresses! They just came in from fashion week in New York!”

“Betty, sweetie, there’s no way you’re going to get married in the backyard!” Alice interjected. “We’re re-landscaping! It’s going to take most of the summer and since you want to get married in three months, I’m afraid it just isn’t reasonable. But the Riverdale country club has an opening! Midge Klump and Moose Mason canceled their wedding, _again_!”

“I heard that they eloped,” Jellybean said, not looking up from her cell phone. “Something about Midge being pregnant.”

“Well either way, we still have the country club!” Alice replied. “No short dresses! It isn’t homecoming, after all!”

Betty sighed and looked at Polly for help but she was trying to stop Jayden from asking a sales clerk about trying on a tiara.

A few minutes later, Betty was being shucked out of her street clothes and into a cream-colored, ball gown style dress with yards of tulle and crystals.

“You don’t like it?”

Betty shook her head. “Not really, it’s not exactly the vision I’m having for _my_ wedding.”

“Have you talked to your mother about what you want?” Charlotte asked as she finished zipping Betty into the dress she was trying on.

“My fiancé and I just got engaged last week,” Betty answered. “And up until then, I didn’t think we’d ever get married. We both had difficult family lives and we didn’t want to do the same things as our parents. So, I haven’t really thought about what I want. Except I love him and I want to spend the rest of my life with him, we don’t need bells and whistles.”

“You’ve known your fiancé a long time?”

Betty nodded. “We’ve known each other since we were little kids but we’re not childhood sweethearts. We got together when we were sophomores in high school and we’ve been a couple ever since.”

“That’s lovely,” Charlotte said as she opened the dressing room door for Betty. ““Well, I’ve been doing this for a few years now. My best advice is to humor your mother but fight for what you want at the same time. Especially if you’re paying for it.”

**.**

“I don’t like it,” Alice said as soon as Betty was on the main floor. “There’s too much cleavage showing. Do you have anything a little more modest?”

“Betty, what do you think?” Charlotte asked instead.

“Um, I don’t like it,” Betty replied. “It’s a little much for me and it definitely won’t fit the kind of wedding I’m planning on having. Besides, I think this is on Veronica’s top ten perfect dresses and I don’t want to steal it from her.”

“First come, first serve!” Alice reminded her. “ _If_ you wanted this dress, you shouldn’t have to not get it because of something _Veronica Lodge_ could possibly want! It’s not like she’s getting married in three months, anyways.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Betty said. “Because I don’t want this dress anyways! I’m going to try on the next one.”

The last dress she tried on was a lace, ivory number with sleeves and pearl buttons and a satin sash and even though Betty didn’t really love it or have any emotional connection to it, her mother had whipped out her credit card and paid for it before she could say _no_.

She knew then that her mother would be getting the big day of her dreams and she’d have little to no input in it.

**.**

“Alice is going to try and get you to sign a prenup,” Hal warned as they ate breakfast at Jughead’s favorite Boston diner. “Don’t let her talk you into it.”

“What’s a prenup?” Jay asked, looking at Reggie.

“An agreement that a couple signs in case things don’t work out after they get married,” Reggie explained. “Your Aunt Betty and Uncle Juggie don’t need one because things have worked out for them ever since they got together.”

“He’s ten, I don’t think telling him that will help anything except give him false expectations about what a relationship should look like!” Jughead protested.

“You and Betty gave me false expectations about what a relationship should look like,” Reggie replied, smirking at him.

“What’s false expectations?” Jay asked.

“What are false expectations?” Reggie echoed, looking at Jughead, his smirk deepening.

“Why don’t we call and see what the girls are doing,” Jughead suggested instead. “Maybe they can meet us for the last part of breakfast.”

“They’re trying on dresses,” Reggie said, making a face. “Mrs. Cooper has a lot of thoughts and ideas, she talked about it the whole drive here.”

“I am sure she’s just excited,” Jughead replied, the words tasting bitter on his mouth.

Bad stuff happened when Alice Cooper orchestrated things and he really didn’t want her to have a hand in his wedding. He made a note to discuss it with Betty when they were by themselves later on.

Not that he had much of an idea of what he wanted when it came to wedding Betty. All he wanted to do was marry her.

**.**

By the end of the weekend, Alice had turned Betty’s living room into a wedding planning zone while refusing to take “no” for an answer while JB kept adamantly saying she wasn’t going to wear anything frilly or pink whenever the older woman brought it up.

When they sent their respective families back to Riverdale, Betty’s head was spinning. She cuddled up on the couch with Jughead and sighed. “We’re not going to have the wedding we want, you know.”

“I do not know what kind of wedding I want,” Jughead admitted. “All I know is I want to marry you and maybe that I don’t want to do Christmas with both my parents and your parents at the same time.”

Betty laughed weakly. “That sounds good to me.”

**TBC. . .**

**.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a long week. If you follow me on any social media outlets and pay attention to what I post, you know this. Let’s just say I am looking forward to this job training thing being over. But I do not want to use this space to complain or burden my dear readers with my troubles. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and that you will leave me your thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3 We're Not Little Children, We Know What We Want

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again for all the support!

**.**

**Chapter 3 We’re Not Little Children and We Know What We Want**

**_One Month Later_ **

“I kind of like this one,” Jughead said, making Betty sample a taste of salted caramel rum cake.

Betty nodded as she chewed and swallowed. “Okay but one tier needs to be a regular old white cake with buttercream frosting, for the traditionalists.”

Jughead frowned. “Wait, does the cake need to have _layers_?”

Betty laughed affectionately and wiped chocolate from the corner of his mouth. “Of course! This isn’t a birthday party, Juggie. We’re going to have a lot of guests. Mom just sent me the final cut of the guest list.”

Jughead took a plate of sample lemon meringue cake and took a bite. “Don’t you find it a little frustrating that your mom is still insisting on planning the whole thing and we don’t get a say at all?”

“I’ve tried to talk to her but I think she’s tuning me out,” Betty replied. “Every single time I’ve broached the subject, she changes it or starts to talk about the landscaping plans her and my father have for the backyard. Sometimes I think we should just run away and elope, like Midge and Moose did. But mom would know if we did that.”

“Yeah,” Jughead agreed, scooping up some meringue with his finger and licking it. “I like this one too.”

Betty looked at her mother who was haggling with the owner of the bakery and shook her head. “Well, I can tell you that mom won’t let you have flavors that will clash. So, you have to decide between the lemon and the salted caramel rum. Although, she might decide for you so don’t get your heart set on anything.”

Jughead nodded and chugged some water before moving to the last selection of cake the owner had set out in front of them. “Duly noted!”

“Betty, we have to go and meet Veronica and Forsythia to look for their dresses!” Alice called.

“Mom, I told you not to call _JB_ , Forsythia!” Betty replied as she retrieved her purse and stood up. “She doesn’t like it!”

“Make sure you get it on camera when Veronica tries to scratch your mom’s eyes out when she sees the dresses she’s picked!” Jughead joked.

Betty shook her head and leaned down to kiss him. “Don’t forget we have a dance lesson tonight. Mom won’t be there but she’ll know if we don’t show up.”

“Do we really need to learn how to waltz or swing dance or whatever it is she wants us to do?” Jughead asked. “I thought we could just hold each other up and sway together.”

“I know, I know.”

“Betty, come _now_ or we’ll be late!”

“Marry me and we’ll spend the rest of our life swaying together,” Betty promised, stealing a look at her mother and stealing one more kiss.

**.**

“I have lots of ideas for bridesmaid dresses,” Alice told JB and Veronica when they met them in front of a shop that specialized in clothes for the wedding party.

“I do too, Mrs. Cooper!” Veronica said. “Betty and I were talking about it and we both think it should be something fashionable but elegant and understated.”

“Honey, it’s a black-tie event. It can’t be understated. We don’t want to draw attention away from Betty, of course but you can’t wear just anything! Everything needs to match and flow nicely.”

“I’m not wearing frills or lace!” JB repeated her mantra from the last time they had all been together. “There is _no way_!”

“I really think Betty should have a say in what we wear,” Veronica added.

Alice laughed. “Veronica, sweetie, Betty really doesn’t even know what she wants!”

“I’m standing _right_ here, mom!” Betty said. “And I _do_ know what I want but you said I couldn’t have it!”

Alice ignored her and led them all inside. JB looked at her future sister-in-law and crossed her arms.

“You need to be more assertive, Betty!” JB told her. “Tell her what you want and don’t want! It’s about you and my brother, not her perfect vision for what your day should look like.”

“I agree, B!” Veronica interjected. “She’s almost out of control!”

Betty hesitated. “I think she just wants everything to be perfect.”

“We all want it to be perfect!” Veronica assured her, taking Betty by the hand. “Trust me, if anybody deserves for it to be perfect, it’s you and Jughead. I just want it to be on _your_ terms. When I get married next year, my mother knows that I am going to get what I want. No questions asked. No suggestions given. Her only job is to pick a stunning mother of the bride dress and to give me the Platinum card if and when I need it. When your mom has her vow renewal ceremony, she can do what she wants. But for now, you’re the one who matters! Go on and tell her.”

Betty looked at Alice who was flipping through a rack of dresses that would cause JB to take a teenage temper tantrum.

“Mom!” Betty said quickly, sprinting over to her. “Mom! Um, I was thinking about something else for the dresses!”

Alice frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“I was browsing Pinterest last night and I found a dress that I _really_ liked!” Betty said as she unlocked the passcode on her phone and pulling up the Pinterest app. She went to her wedding board and showed her mother the dress that she had picked.

JB and Veronica peered over her shoulder.

“I like it!” JB said when she saw the tea-length, strapless dress. “It has pockets!”

“It’s black,” Alice answered

“We don’t need to get it in black,” Veronica told her helpfully. “We can get in emerald or eggplant or something. Whatever color that isn’t black and _Betty_ likes.”

“You girls cannot wear strapless! Betty’s dress has a high collar. It will throw off the whole symmetry when we take pictures.”

Veronica smiled thinly. “Nobody will be looking at us. We’re just Betty’s accessories that day.”

Alice turned to Betty. “Do you really want to buy the first dress you see? They haven’t even tried them on yet! We should at least look at other options.”

Betty sighed. “Okay, we’ll look at other options just in case this one doesn’t work out in a way any of us like but _I_ get the final say this time. Veronica is buying her own dress and JB is putting up half the money for her’s. In fact, why don’t you go and get some coffee while I handle this?”

“That sounds like an excellent idea!” Veronica agreed, taking her phone out of her purse. “I’ll shoot Smithers a text and you can take the car. He’ll bring you wherever you’d like to go. I’ll even pay for it, if you’d like!”

Alice narrowed her eyes. “No, that’s fine. I can buy my own coffee thank you very much!”

“She was so going to say something about knowing when she’s not wanted,” JB whispered as they all watched Alice retreat from the dress store.

Veronica rolled her eyes and waved down a sale’s clerk. “She’ll live. What colors are you interested in, B?”

“Please don’t say pastels,” JB pleaded. “I don’t do pastels.”

“If Betty wants mint then we have to wear mint,” Veronica said. “Except I’m really hoping if you _have_ to go with green, it’s really dark!”

“No green,” Betty vetoed. “Although, dark green would look stunning on the both of you. I was thinking you could wear muted gold, V and that JB could wear navy.”

“Muted gold and navy, what a beautiful pairing!” Veronica gushed. “And it’s like a throwback to the Blue & Gold, the place it all began for the two of you! How fitting!”

“Oh, I didn’t even think about _that_!” Betty said.

“Its fate, baby!” Veronica smiled at the sale’s clerk, who had been waiting patiently for them to make a decision. “Sorry for making you wait! Betty, why don’t you tell Clark here what you’re looking for?” 

**.**

After a successful shopping trip with the girls sans her mother, Betty was feeling just a little bit better about her upcoming wedding. She was going to be more assertive, she was going to try and get exactly what she wanted.

Jughead was waiting for her in front of the dance studio and he smiled when he saw her coming towards him.

“JB loves her dress,” he told her. “She’s been texting me nonstop about it for the last twenty minutes. I’m assuming your mother had nothing to do with it.”

“Veronica sent her off to get coffee while we shopped,” Betty answered, giving him a kiss and taking his hand “Hey,” she said.

“Hi,” Jughead answered. “Do we really have to go and learn how to waltz? I was thinking we could just stand there and sway to a slow song like we did in high school. It worked then, why wouldn’t it work now?”

Betty shrugged. “Because it’s all about showing off, I guess. You don’t question my mother. But listen, if you learn how to waltz with me this one time then you and I can spend the rest of our lives swaying together to slow songs.”

“Okay,” Jughead agreed, kissing her again. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

“Forsythe, Elizabeth?” Their dance instructor, a tall, willowy blonde asked, poking her head outside of the studio door, her voice infused with a light accent. “Hi! I’m Dylan, are you two planning on coming in any time soon? Your lesson starts in two minutes!”

“We’re coming!” Betty replied.

When they were inside, Dylan handed Betty a black leotard and a pink flowy, sheer skirt.

“It’s easier to dance in this and not those awful jeans,” she explained. “It’s part of the package your mother purchased, so you can keep it for all the other lessons. Now, when I spoke to Mrs. Cooper on the phone, she had some song suggestions for you two.”

 _“Oh no!”_ Jughead interjected. “I’m sorry Betty but there is _no_ way your mother is picking our first dance song!”

Dylan crumpled up the paper she was holding. “That’s totally fine. It’s what I thought you would say. My first rule is that your song should have significance to you as a couple. Maybe it was the song that was playing when you first held hands during a movie or the song you danced to at your senior prom, if you’ve been together that long but it has to be a good waltz song too.”

“Um, we might actually need suggestions for waltz songs,” Jughead said.

Dylan smiled. “Franklin!” she called. “Our new pupils are here! My husband,” she explained. “He helps me teach all of my couples!”

An instrumental track started to play and Franklin, tall and lean and dark-haired came out of nowhere and swept Dylan into an effortless, graceful dance.

“I don’t think we can learn how to do that,” she whispered. “Not in two months anyways! I’m really not into exabitionism. Slow dancing might actually be a good thing. Nobody expects a lot out of slow dancing.”

“We’ll teach you simple steps,” Dylan said as she passed them. “Just the basics, you have a lovely form Elizabeth! We’ll have you two dancing in no time, I promise!”

“It wouldn’t hurt to take one lesson,” Jughead hedged. “And maybe we’ll like it so much that we’ll have a new hobby to do as a couple after we get married.”

“I could recommend several places to dance,” Dylan added as she and Franklin stopped. “If you’d go get changed, we can get started.”

After the first lesson, Betty decided maybe waltzing wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Although, she wasn’t about to tell her mother _that_. She would become completely insufferable.

**.**

“You need engagement pictures, Elizabeth!” Alice insisted a few days later as they took a walk along the Charles River. “Something to send out with the save the dates.”

“We already sent out the invitations,” Betty said, gently squeezing her iced coffee from Dunkin Donuts. “There’s no need to send out save the dates now.”

“You can post it to Instagram or whatever social media everybody is using these days,” Alice said, waving her off like usual. “Besides, I need a picture of you and Jughead for the wall, it’s the perfect opportunity to get one.”

“It seems like a little too much to do with everything else going on,” Betty protested. “We still haven’t had a shower or an engagement party.”

“You can take the pictures at the engagement party then,” Alice replied, making the final decision like usual. “The photographer has already been hired. She’s just waiting for me to call her and tell her the date she needs to have a session with you.”

Betty released her cup, realizing she had been putting a lot of tension on it. “Mom, I think we need to have a talk. This is getting completely out of hand.”

“I talked to Gladys on my way here,” Alice told her. “She’s still refusing to color coordinate with me on our dresses. I told her it would photograph better if we were in the same palette, but I don’t think she was actually listening to me. Maybe you could mention it to her?”

“I am not telling my future mother-in-law what color she _has_ to wear just because you think it’s appropriate!

Alice huffed. “Fine. I added a few people to the guest list, they’ve all sent in their répondez s'il vous plaît.”

Betty frowned. “Wait, how many is a _few_ people, exactly? I thought we already finalized the guest list.”  


“Just fifty or so.” 

 _“Fifty!?”_ Betty repeated. “Mother, are you kidding me!? _Fifty_ extra people!? Jughead and I don’t even know that many more people!”

She was starting to feel suffocated. The same old anxiety from childhood was slipping through the cracks because everything was out of her control and her mother just wasn’t listening to her, no matter what she said.

For all intents and purposes, she was going to have the wedding she didn’t want.

**.**

“I think we need to start thinking about moving your stuff in or moving my stuff out,” Jughead said as she made him dinner later that night. “Or we could buy a house in Cambridge, I have enough money and then some to put a down payment on one if you were interested.”

Betty looked at him. “I almost forgot that we actually had to live together after we got married. I’ve had so much on my mind lately.”

  
“I didn’t forget about it.” Jughead grinned and took the spatula from her, stirring around the sun-dried tomatoes that she was cooking with penne pasta and chicken. “In fact, I think it’s one of the things I am looking forward to most about you being my wife.” 

“Oh, is that so?” Betty asked as she smiled at him and got a block of fresh parmesan from the fridge.

“Mmmhmm,” Jughead replied, turning off the stove and getting some plates from the cabinet.

“Maybe we can hold off on buying a house until after the wedding,” Betty suggested. “I don’t want to try and manage to major things at once. Until then, we can just live here. I like it more than I like mine anyways.”

“Okay,” Jughead agreed. “We can start moving you in this weekend then.”

**.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The piece Dylan and Franklin waltzed to was “the Wedding” by Marcelo Zarvos from the Words. I know Alice made some changes in the last few episodes of Riverdale but I’m not sure they’d stick. It takes 40 days to change a bad habit. So, the controlling aspects of her character could come back at some point and even if it doesn’t, it works for this story. I hope you enjoyed it and that you’ll tell me what you thought.


	4. Chapter 4 the Wedding

_Two Weeks Later_

“Mom, what am I going to do with all this _crystal_?”

“You’re going to own it and use it eventually,” Alice answered. “And write every single person who gave it to you a thank you note as well.”

“Mom, mine and Jughead’s lifestyle doesn’t really have room for a crystal punch bowl. It’s not the 1950s,” Betty said. “Did you register me for all this stuff? What happened to the things I actually put on my list?”

“Did you really need a flamingo pitcher?” Alice asked. “It was ugly. And besides, what were you going to do with it?”

“I don’t know. Host a brunch!” Betty retorted. “Seriously, you can’t just go behind my back and re-register me.”

“I didn’t really re-register you though,” Alice said. “I just added a few things to your registry without your permission. I just want you to have pretty things, Betty. And I don’t think flamingo pitchers and whale measuring cups are really _nice_.”

“But I like them!” Betty insisted. “Does that not matter to you?”

“What are you going to do when Jughead has his boss and his boss’s wife over for dinner?”

“Serve them drinks in the Kashmir highball glasses I registered for,” Betty replied. “All of the people we usually associate with are low-maintenance. And Veronica deals with it because even though she’s champagne and pearls, she likes our company enough to overlook the shocking lack of china. And we’ve had Jughead’s boss over before, neither him or his wife cared about how we served dinner. They’re both 27, mom.”

But Alice wasn’t listening to her, she was cleaning up the leftovers from the shower.

“I’ll get you all the flamingo pitchers you could want,” Veronica promised when Alice had left the living room. She had been silently standing by, waiting to interject again if she had to.

“And I’ll get you the whale measuring cups,” JB added, lowering her phone long enough to smile at her future sister-in-law.

Betty sighed. “It’s okay, the two of you really don’t have to get me anything else,” she assured them.

Veronica waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. Think about it as an early housewarming present!”

JB surveyed the gifts piled up around the living room. “She could fill _two_ houses with all the stuff she got today!”

Veronica shook her head. “Most of its going back, we’re going to replace everything with what _you_ wanted, Betty. I’ll clear out next Saturday and we can do it then! I don’t want to hear arguments about it either. I know you’re going to feel bad for doing it but _don’t_. Most of these gifts aren’t thoughtful.”

“I’m going to insist you keep the ice cream maker,” JB added. “So, when I come stay with you and Jughead in Cambridge, you can make homemade ice cream.”

“I actually asked for the ice cream maker,” Betty told her.

“I can’t believe Cheryl actually got you something that you actually wanted for once!” Veronica said.

Betty grinned, grateful for the subject change. “Well, it’s not like she got the one I actually picked out. This one is much nicer and actually rated the number one ice cream maker with _America’s Test Kitchen_.”

“Well, Cheryl always did like to show off. Even more so now that she’s married to one of the richest men on Forbes 30 and under list,” Veronica replied. “And she’s a successful business woman on her own too. She has to do something with all that money and power. What better way to do it then spoil her family members.”

“Are you girls going to just stand around and chat while I do all the work?” Alice interrupted as she returned to the living room.

“No!” Veronica answered. “I was just going to call Archie and tell him that it’s safe for him and Jughead to come back so we can start loading the presents in the car. JB, why don’t you put your phone away and help finish bringing the food to the kitchen?”

“I’m just strapped for time. The engagement party is in two hours,” Alice explained.

“You didn’t need to plan the engagement party and shower for the same day,” Betty said.

“What did you want me to do? You’re the one who decided to get married in three months! It hardly gave us time to do anything! Not that you ever do anything traditionally anyways.”

Betty frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t think we want to know!” Veronica answered.

“Let’s start with _Jughead_ ,” Alice said, ignoring the Latina girl.

JB lowered the cupcake she had started to eat and furrowed her eyebrows. “Hey, watch it lady! That’s my brother you’re talking about!”

“That’s my _fiancé_ you’re talking about!” Betty added.

“I’m just saying, he’s 26 and he’s still going by _Jughead_. You’d think he’d start going by his Christian name now.”

“He _does_ use his given name professionally!” Betty argued. “He let you use it on the invitations and he’ll even use it when we say our vows. His nickname is such a stupid thing to have a problem with. He’s good to me, mother! He’s good _for_ me! And that’s all you should care about.”

Alice released a dramatic breath. “Let’s not talk about it right now. We have a lot to do and you girls still need to get ready for the other party. You’re not planning on going in jeans, are you?”

“I’m going to change right now,” Betty answered, walking away.

“Betty!” Veronica called, dropping the tablecloth she had been holding and following her upstairs.

**.**

“She still treats me like a child,” Betty said, not turning around when Veronica came into her bedroom. “I don’t know if I can take it anymore.”

“One short month and it’ll all be over,” Veronica answered, going over to her and wrapping her arms around her in a hug.

“I’m going to hate it,” Betty replied, feeling the same suffocating feeling she’d had on the Charles River. “I’m going to hate it and I’m going to grow resentful that I didn’t have the wedding I wanted one day and take it out on Jughead or throw my own daughter a wedding that she doesn’t want.”

“No you won’t. Because you are _not_ your mother!” Veronica assured her, squeezing her tighter. “You’re going to make sure your future daughter has the wedding of her dreams. I know you will. I’ve only just started to plan my own wedding and you’ve already helped me make sure I’m getting what I want. I just wish I could return the favor.”

“One short month and it’ll all be over, right?” Betty repeated. “Just keep reminding me that there’s only thirty-one days left until this whole ordeal is over with.”

“I will,” Veronica promised.

**.**

Betty sat in the corner, trying to avoid having another engagement picture taken when Jughead found her.

“What do you say we blow off our own engagement party and go get some ice cream?” Jughead suggested.

Betty looked over at her mother who was having a conversation with Josie McCoy’s mother. “She’ll know if we leave.”

“We’ll be long way before she notices we’ve left,” Jughead said. “Come on, Veronica told Archie and I all about the afternoon you had. I think you’ve earned your ice cream and then some.”

“I’m not going to fit into my dress if you keep plying me with desserts,” Betty answered.

“Spend an extra few minutes in the gym,” Jughead argued. “Desserts are a great stress reliever,” he held her away from him and observed her with the critical eye of a writer, “besides, you’ve never looked better.”

“I’ve been running a lot. To burn stress.”

Jughead pulled her in again and squeezed her fiercely. “Come on. I’ll have Archie cover for us.”

**.**

The rest of the time leading up to the wedding went by in a blur. There was dress fittings to have and thank you notes to write. Betty pushed all her negative feelings away while she reminded herself that it was only one day out of the rest of her life with Jughead.

But on a cloudy night, hours after the rehearsal dinner. Hours after they had eaten lobster and steak and chocolate lava cake, she knew she couldn’t go through with it.

“Betty, is everything okay?” Veronica asked when she noticed her best friend was missing from the queen sized bed.

“I-I don’t think I want to get married tomorrow.”

Veronica’s mouth dropped open. _“_ Betty, what are you talking about? Of course you want to get married tomorrow! We’ve been planning this for months now!”

  
“No. No my _mother_ has been planning this for months,” Betty corrected. “I never said I wanted a big wedding. . . all those people looking at me. I can’t do it Veronica. And I hate my dress. I never said it aloud but I _hate_ it.” 

“B, you’re going to have an anxiety attack if you don’t calm down. Take a deep breath. You’re not going to go all _Runaway Bride_ on Jughead are you?”

Betty’s already white complexion turned paler. “Of course not! I want to marry Jughead more than anything. I-I just don’t want to make a big deal out of it. If I do, I _might_ run away.”

“Okay. You sit tight honey. I’m going to be right back!” Veronica said as she pulled on her satiny bathrobe and retrieved her cell phone from the charger.

She went into the bathroom and turned on the shower and then scrolled through her contacts. She clicked on Jughead’s name and waited while the phone rang.

“Jughead, you better get over here or your lovely bride-to-be is going to go AWOL.”

 

**.**

“I have to go over to the Cooper’s and talk to Betty,” Jughead said after hanging up with Veronica.

“Dude, its bad luck to see the bride before the wedding!” Archie protested.

“I’m afraid she’s going to get cold feet.”

“Who!? _Betty?_ She’d never get cold feet! She’s loved you ever since we were in high school,” Archie tried to assure him.

“I’m going to see her,” Jughead repeated as he pulled on a pair of jeans and a worn out sweater.

“If Mrs. Cooper catches you, you’re going to be in so much trouble!”

“I don’t care! It’s a risk I’m willing to take. Veronica thinks that Betty’s going to try and run away if I don’t go and talk to her. You’d do the same thing too, if you thought Veronica needed you.”

Archie sighed, relenting. “Go on then and talk to her. But don’t get caught! Just don’t get caught.”

Jughead nodded. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised before slipping out of Archie’s old bedroom and down the stairs. He crept past the living room where Fred and Mary were chatting with Mary’s new boyfriend and made the familiar trek across the lawn and over to the Cooper house.

He shimmied up the ladder just like old times and rapped on her window.

Veronica let him in and said something about going to make Betty a cup of tea.

“What’s going on Betts?” Jughead asked when they were alone. He sat down next to her and took her hand.

She took a deep breath. “So. . . here’s the thing. .  ."I don’t want to get married. At least not in front of everyone, with the way my mother planned. I think if we do,  I won’t go through with it,” Betty told Jughead.

“But you _still_ want to get married, right?” Jughead double-checked. “I don’t think I’d survive if you said you didn’t want to get married.”

“Don’t be so dramatic!” Veronica said, sitting down on Betty’s bed. “It won’t be the end of the world if she decided she didn’t want to marry you after all. BUT she has good taste. She still wants to go through with it.”

“But just on a smaller scale,” Betty added. “Jughead Jones, would you do me the great honor of eloping with me?”

“Eloping?” Jughead repeated. “You want to elope with me?”

“Yeah,” Betty answered. “Will you?”

“Of course!” Jughead said. “When? Where?”

“Right now. I want to be way out of town before tomorrow morning. Before my mother is onto us and tries to stop us.”

“Archie and I are going to go as your witnesses,” Veronica chimed in. “We’ve discussed the whole thing. JB is going to stay here and cover for us.”

“You better get renew your vows or name your first child after me!” JB ordered from the sleeping bag she was sprawled out on.

“What do  we need to bring?” Jughead asked, ignoring his younger sister.

“Not much. I hate my dress, so I’m leaving _that_ here. Veronica and I can stop into a consignment shop in Greendale and see if they have anything there that I can wear. You guys can wear suits or bring the tuxedo you rented.

“I adore my maid of honor dress, so I’m still going to wear it!’ Veronica added. “We don’t need very much. Trust me, I should know. I ran away multiple times when I wanted to get my father and mother’s attention.”

“We want to leave in an hour,” Betty supplied. “Do you think you could be ready by then?”

Jughead kissed her. “Yes.”

**.**

They wrote notes to their respective families and hastily threw some pajamas and necessities into bags.

Veronica texted Smithers to wait for them at the end of the street because it was late and they didn’t want to alert the neighborhood when it was usually settled. They escaped through the window and met the boys in front of Fred’s house.

“You sure about this?” Jughead asked as he slipped his hand into Betty’s.

Betty nodded. “Yes.”

“Well, we better get going then.”

They spent the night in a little bed & breakfast right in the heart of Greendale.

In the best way possible, Betty and Jughead both had trouble sleeping that night. 

**.**

Betty and Veronica were up early the next morning. They walked around town until they found a thrift store that was open while Archie and Jughead went to find somebody who could perform the ceremony on short notice.

And even though Veronica said finding an amazing dress in a short amount of time would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, Betty found one almost on her first try. A knee-length, strapless, cream-colored dress with layers of pink tulle under the skirt.  

As luck would have it, she found a pair of Tiffany blue high heels that went with it perfectly and a cage veil that completed the whole ensemble.

“You’re so beautiful,” Veronica said. “Just like a bride should be.”

All the pieces were falling into place.

Betty felt a tingle of excitement she had been lacking the whole time she’d been watching her mother plan her other wedding.

**.**

They met at the church late-afternoon because the minister Archie and Jughead had found was doing another wedding earlier in the day. But he’d agreed to help them out as soon as he could.

“It’s almost time,” Veronica told Betty. “Are you ready?”

“I’ve never been more ready,” Betty answered, smiling at Veronica as the first strains of her processional song started. “Well, I guess it’s time!”

Veronica kissed her on the cheek before taking her place to go down the aisle. “To you my friend, I wish you all the happiness in the world,” she said.

While Betty walked towards the pulpit, she caught Jughead staring at her coming towards him. His smile grew wider with every step she took.

Her heart was fluttering in excitement. She was going to be somebody’s wife. She was going to be _Jughead’s_ wife. She knew the idea of belonging to somebody didn’t fit the ideals of the circles she ran in, but her relationship with him was a partnership of equality. If she belonged to him, he belonged to her just as much.

She stopped in front of the altar and Jughead took her hand, together they walked towards the pastor and turned to face each other.

“Who gives this woman to be this man’s wife?”

“I do,” Archie answered, completely serious. And it was kind of fitting even though he wasn’t Hal. He was the third most important person in her life, next to her nephew and she’d known him almost for forever.

When it came time for the vows, Jughead stopped the minister. “If you don’t mind, I wrote my own.”

“That’s perfectly fine! Go ahead.”

“Betty when I first saw you, we were six-years-old and you were eating chocolate chip cookies that you’d made yourself.  I was sitting across from you, I guess I looked just pathetic enough because you shared them with me even though I didn’t ask you to. You were wearing pigtails and a denim jacket with a little pink tutu skirt. I think I knew then that I would love you for the rest of my life even if you wound up loving somebody else. But by some miracle, you wound up loving _me_. So, this is what I vow to you.

“I vow to love you just as much and even more as that little boy did. To spend the rest of my life chasing away your demons, to honor you and cherish you and to make you my family. For as long as we both shall live.”

Betty smiled at him, the butterflies she’d had in her stomach for years swirled with intensity.

She cleared her throat. “I wrote my own vows too. Um. Jughead, we’ve known each other a very long time you and I. Up until I was sixteen, I didn’t know I could love you as much as I did. As much as I do, you snuck into my heart and captured it without me even realizing it was even happening. I was in the middle before I knew I’d begun and then I couldn’t imagine my life without you. Not ever. Thank you for choosing me, for asking me to spend the rest of my life with you.

“I promise I’ll do everything I can to honor and cherish and love you too. Your troubles are my troubles from this day forward. I choose you, I choose _us_ until death do us part.”

They exchanged rings and then the pastor pronounced them man and wife.

**.**

Afterwards, they found a little coffee shop slash wine bar. They bought cupcakes and cheap pink champagne. Archie and Veronica toasted them and when an old song came over the speakers, Jughead tugged Betty to her feet and danced with her.

“We’re swaying together,” Betty whispered. “Just like you wanted.”

“All I’ve ever wanted is you, Mrs. Jones,” Jughead answered.

**The End**

**.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for taking this journey with me. I’ll be back soon with another story, one that I am keeping under wraps for now. I hope you’ll join me for a new adventure. I think you guys will like it. In the meantime, tell me what you thought about the conclusion!

**Author's Note:**

> Real talk, it took me six attempts to write this first draft and I’m still not 100 percent happy with how this turned out. I’m hoping to gain momentum as I write this. I hope you’ll tell me what you thought! The chapter title is from the Carly Simon song “That’s The Way I Always Heard It Should Be”. It is also the song that Betty is thinking about in reference to her parents.


End file.
